Jeff and I always buy postcards when we go on vacation. Always. It’s like we think we’ll actually drop them in the mail to our family and friends. We do, sometimes, but they’re usually post-marked “Kansas City.” We even chose awesome black and white cityscape postcards on our trip to NYC, and did we mail them? No. Because we never mail them. We just buy them, and hope that our family and friends know that we’re thinking of them. So, family and friends, we missed you, love you, and we DID think of you while we were gone.
So, if I were writing you a postcard from New York City, I would’ve said this:
“NY is amazing! We’re wearing ourselves out… seeing everything we can, and pretending to fit in with the locals. :) The food is amazing, the sights are gorgeous, and the people are amazingly nice — in all different languages. Wish you were here! Love, Erica”
Rather than send you all a postcard individually… here’s my after-the-trip postcard with a few photos I took on our trip. I made a pact with myself (on behalf of my fellow travelers) that I wouldn’t carry my big Nikon everywhere with me. When I do that, I tend to go into “photo mode” and not really soak in the experience. So, my time with the D700 was very limited, and most of our photos from the trip were taken with our point-and-shoot. I still haven’t had a chance to sort through all of those, and I’ll probably post a big fat Facebook album with all of those shots in them… but, for now, I have some photos to share with you documenting our trip and the things you voted for us to do! :)
The very first day we arrived, Jeff and I headed straight to Central Park for a picnic. It was probably the #1 thing I wanted to do while we were there, so we did it first. Have a picnic is #15 on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days, and what better place to do it than the most beautiful park in the country?
Here’s my delicious mozzarella, tomato and pesto sandwich from this tiny little deli close to Central Park:
The happy picnic pair:
We had our picnic on the mall, which is the area in a ton of movies… where people stroll by, stop at the benches, and have funny conversations in most chick flicks based in NYC. I loved relaxing there and watching the people who were out strolling around on a weekday at noon.
This first day, you all voted on this blog for what you wanted us to do while we were in New York City… well, all day, the polls kept changing. It ended up a very, very narrow win for “stroll through Central Park” — by just ONE vote. :) So, we did it. Three different times, actually. We’re over-achievers like that. :) These photos are all from different strolls…
I loved Central Park. I loved that it’s like a little (huge) natural haven in the middle of a busy, bustling city. I love that tons of people can be there, but you still feel connected to the natural beauty. I loved staring up at the huge trees only to be surprised by the skyscrapers peeking their long necks out even farther than the tree tops. It’s a gorgeous park, and we only saw a tiny piece of it.
Belvedere Castle, in the park:
The view from the castle. And no, I didn’t photoshop the green lake… ha ha.
Alison and Chris (our traveling partners) in the windy staircase of the castle:
Another great spot we visited was Grand Central station. It was absolutely gorgeous — we were there late at night, which was super cool. Here’s a shot of the station in the bottom corner with the Chrysler Building behind at night:
The inside of the station. I wonder where all of those people were headed…
And another view. Can you spot my three traveling partners? :)
I liked the constant yellow in the landscape of New York City, thanks to the ever-present cabs… who were always there, unless you really needed one, as we found out the last night we were there… in the rain. :)
Here’s the statue of Teddy Roosevelt outside of the Museum of Natural History. We did get to spend time in that museum, and it was amazing! I won’t share those photos with you, even though I know the 10-year-old version of my younger brother would’ve loved the dinosaur skeletons. :) This photo goes out to Greg, Teddy’s biggest fan:
You also voted on Day 2 for us to eat GIANT slices of New York-style pizza. Well, we did. We found this amazing little pizza shop (like 2 booths in the whole place) in the Upper West Side. And they had a slice ready to go with two of my favorite toppings — black olives and tomatoes. Yum!
A shot of the Manhattan bridge, which was apparently painted blue so it would blend into the water more and not take away from the Brooklyn Bridge’s glory… interesting… :)
And, one more shot for those of you who voted for us to stand in the middle of Times Square. You knew we wouldn’t let you down, right?! :) I love this, because you can STILL “people watch” in the background of these images. There are a little series of these, and there are new people in each of them! Thanks to my brother-in-law Chris for taking this shot! Here we are:
That’s my very random post of little pieces of our trip to NYC. You know… a postcard can only be so long! :)
More to come from NY… I still have a super fun photo session of a couple in Brooklyn to share! Stay tuned!
ericamay photography blog: thought studio. 
Recent Comments